Hello, and welcome to another (drumroll please) New This Week!
This week, we have a whole slew of new launches this you, from brands high and low. But here are a couple highlights: sheet masks from Sephora Collection, a new fragrance from Bottega Veneta (finally!!), and 210 new eyeshadows from Make Up For Ever. (That Eyeko Brow Liner is a little bit exciting, too — it’s silicone-free.)
This was supposed to be yesterday’s post — a couple end-of-summer reviews to get us through the long August days up here in Canada. But, well, I got distracted while testing out the bronzer, and so this got pushed back a day for Senna’s Powder Point brush (which, if I can butt in here for a second, pairs beautifully with the Eden Tropical bronzer.)
But, without further adieu — here is the rest of Lise Watier’s Eden Tropical collection! I didn’t love these products quite as much as these three hits, but hey, you never know, right? One woman’s not-a-chance is another’s holy grail.
Lise Watier Eden Tropical Eyeshadow Palette & 24Hrs Gel Liner swatches
The Eden Tropical Eyeshadow Palette ($43 CAD) contains six shimmery eyeshadows (8.4 g in total), and each is more gorgeous than the last — literally, if you ask me. (Seriously, how great is that aqua blue?!) Each shade performed well, and the palette has good consistency in terms of texture and pigmentation, but it didn’t wow me. It was still a good palette, but I’d go for one of Lise Watier’s gorgeous–and gorgeously-packaged–Ombre Soufflé Suprême Eyeshadows ($24 CAD) in a heartbeat instead.
Lise Watier Eden Tropical Eyeshadow Palette & 24Hrs Gel Liner swatches
Lise Watier Eden Tropical Bronzing Powder
On the cheeks, I found the Eden Tropical Bronzing Powder ($38 CAD) to be too warm for my skintone, but I actually really liked the formulation — solid, easy to work with, easy to apply in layers. It gave a really pretty golden glow without too much shimmer, and I think if you have fair to light skin without any green or cool undertones, it would work well for you.
The apricot blush in the centre isn’t pigmented enough to use alone, in my opinion, but I think this bronzer makes up for that with its large pan size and gorgeous pattern — I do love a wide pan when it comes to bronzers.
I’ll be honest. The first time I tried this brush, it was with the Senna Brilliant Bronze bronzer/highlighters that it launched with — and, yeah, I didn’t love it. So after about a week of product testing, it got filed away, pushed into the back of a drawer for a while…
But then this week, I pulled it out again on a whim while testing a smoother, less shimmery bronzer. And it was amazing.
Senna’s Powder Point brush has a comfortably large (but light) shimmering seafoam handle with a slightly wider ferrule, and a domed head that tapers off quite a bit at the tip. The effect of all of these things paired together is brilliant: this brush forces you to hold it far back from its head, and ensures that you get light, even pressure with every brush stroke.
Honestly, I don’t know how I missed it the first time around: this is the perfect bronzing brush for beginners. With its loosely packed bristles and unique shape, it makes it almost impossible not to get an expertly-blended cheek with soft, diffuse edges. (And yes, if you’re guilty of over-applying face powders, it’ll help you get just the right amount of those, too.)
I do think that the Powder Point brush is a little pricy for the quality of the build, but for anyone who really struggles with making their bronzer look natural, this is going to be your magic wand. It makes it easy to slowly build up product, and it blends as you go.
This brush is similar to the Sigma F25 Tapered Face Brush and MAC 138 Tapered Face Brush, but it has a less pointed tip.
Senna’s Powder Point 33 brush has your standard-issue natural-hair bristles, soft but not kitten-soft, and it’s not resistant to shedding — overall, its build is pretty standard. But its tapered design and well-proportioned handle are really something special, and if you give it a chance, this is a brush that will do all the work for you.
My verdict? Skip it if bronzing and powdering are easy for you; snap it up if you want a little help. I kid you not, I could bronze with my eyes closed with this baby. (This is a fact; I’ve done it.) (What? I get bored.)
Availability: $38 USD online or in-person at Senna boutiques. { store locator }
New this summer to the permanent LUSH range are D’Fluff and African Paradise, two cruelty-free, self-preserving products.
Read on to find out what I thought of them, and in the meantime, maybe you could try to find it within yourselves to forgive me for all the body products I’ve been writing about recently. I don’t know what’s up with that, dude.
Inspired by strawberry marshmallow fluff (is that a real thing?? can I eat it??), D’Fluff is just as pink and fluffy as you’d expect. It feels like some sort of foam; like space-food from the future or something, and is scented with strawberry and vanilla. I wasn’t crazy about the scent, but Ri loved it, so I guess it can really go either way!
D’Fluff contains a ton of good stuff, from actual strawberries and egg whites to coconut oil and organic maple sugar. But, despite its cool texture and awesome ingredient list, I just couldn’t get on board with its formula, either. It’s pretty expensive at $9.95 CAD, and I found that I had to use a lot of product for each use — this pot would probably only last me a week, if I used it to shave my legs & underarms every day.
Cool as it is, I’d say skip D’Fluff, and opt for a good moisturizer instead. Followed up with African Paradise or pumpkin seed oil, I found that my skin felt just as soft shaving with good ‘ol bar soap as it does shaving with D’Fluff.
LUSH D’Fluff Strawberry Shaving Soap ingredients: [EXPAND]
Water, Rapeseed Oil, Coconut Oil, Saccharide Hydrolysate, Glycerine, Organic Rose Hip Oil, Cocoa Butter, Fresh Strawberries, Egg Whites, Fragrance, Maple Sugar, Vanilla Absolute, Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Rose Absolute, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Editronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Titanium Dioxide, Eugenol, Limonene, Benzyl Alcohol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Red 27, Red 40. [/EXPAND]
Named for its African-sourced Fair Trade ingredients, this body conditioner (also called a “shower smoothie,” but thinking about drinking this really freaked me out) features shea buter & moringa oil from Ghana, plus aloe from Kenya. It’s the first in-shower moisturizer that I’ve tried, but I’m actually really liking it — which surprised me, because I wasn’t expecting it to do much for my super-dry skin!
Glycerine-sticky and heavily fragranced, Lush’s African Paradise Body Conditioner feels a little weird at first use. Once you rinse off (don’t scrub!) and towel dry, though, the formula suddenly makes sense — the perfect amount of product gets left behind, and you end up with soft, scented skin long into the night. It’s not as hydrating as an intensive moisturizer or body butter, but is super quick to apply and moisturizes about as well as your average drugstore lotion or body oil.
Worth noting too is that you actually need very little of this moisturizer for each use, so the 8.8 oz pot will go a long way. I’ve used this about twice as often as my little pot of D’Fluff, but while I’m halfway done the latter, I’ve barely made a dent in African Paradise.
LUSH African Paradise Body Conditioner ingredients:
Water, Glycerine, Almond Oil, Moringa Oil, Fresh Aloe Gel, Shea Butter, Stearic Acid, Marula Oil, Baobab Oil, Kalahari Melon Oil, Fragrance, Triethanolamine, Fresh Mango Juice, Cocoa Butter, Ylang Ylang Oil, Vanilla Absolute, Geranium Oil, Frangipani Absolute, Sicilian Lemon Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Citral, Citronellol, Farnesol, Geraniol, Coumarin, Limonene, Linalool.
I think the problem is that I don’t trust myself around them. Like, I’m scared that one day I’m going to let my guard down and accidentally maybe eat a little bit of them.
It’s hard to find a good summer scent. Trust me; I know. The ones that are good never last, and the ones that last are always so heavy. And, ugh, don’t even get me started on how sticky-sweet and floral the summer heat can make feminine fragrances.
This summer, though, L’Occitane has solved the summer scent problem — in part. No one can make citrus and aquatic-family molecules linger for any longer, but this bright, genderless summer collection might be just what you need to get you through August. (I think it makes an especially appealing androgynous scent for women.)
The scent: This stuff smells good. Like, so good that when my shower is over, I have a tendency to wander back into the bathroom (hot and humid as it is), just to stand by the shower and inhale for a moment. It smells like bright summer days, and like verbena, but it doesn’t have any of the hard edges that the original L’Occitane Verveine scent has — instead, it has soft edges with just the right amount of zest.
Frisson de Verveine reminds me of D&G Light Blue and Fresh Citron de Vigne, in feeling if not in its notes. An aptly-categorized unisex “aqueous citrus,” it’s light and very fresh, almost masculine and not at all “perfumey”. But, unlike Light Blue, it’s very unique — no one is going to sniff this on you and go, “oh yeah, I used to wear that in high school.”
The Ice Gel: I found the collection’s Fresh Shower Gel ($32 CAD) to be a little drying, despite its gorgeous scent (use with a shower puff for maximum fragrance release!), but the cool-cred in this collection totally goes to the Ice Gel for Legs & Feet ($24 CAD). It’s actually a liquid, and has the coolest method of application — you roll the ball onto your skin while gently squeezing the tube to get just the right amount of product.
This is the only product I’ve ever owned with this type of packaging, and I love it. It’s easy to use, weirdly fun, and amounts to zero drips or drops. And the product inside is really good, too — while it doesn’t feel cooling on my feet (it does on my hands; I think my feet just aren’t sensitive enough), it’s surprisingly hydrating, and dries down quickly.
And yes, okay? Yes, I will admit to dabbing some of this onto my wrists as well. It just smells so good, you guys. I couldn’t help myself.
L’Occitane’s fragrances outside of La Collection de Grasse don’t always wow me, but wow — this one did. The perfect aquatic-citrus for both men and women, Frisson de Verveine is as bright and watery as you could wish for on a hot summer day.
But I’m going to recommend you don’t buy these two products, because I love the scent so much. Instead, I’m going to point you toward the line’s gorgeously bottled Frisson de Verveine Eau de Toilette ($56 CAD) and aerosolized Verbena Refreshing Mist ($12 CAD). This is a scent that deserves to be enjoyed both in and out of the shower.
Availability: The Frisson de Verveine range is available for a limited time at L’Occitane boutiques & online beginning this month.
This week is kicking my butt, you guys. It’s already Thursday and I’ve barely gotten out of bed because my abdominal muscles hurt so much — they’re so tender that touching them makes my head spin, which: never a good sign.
So, well, let’s talk makeup. I picked out a stellar product from one of my favourite lines today, and hopefully writing about it’ll help cheer me up a bit!
Annabelle Eyeshadow Quad in Chai Chai Chai
The product: Chai Chai Chai includes four gorgeous, super-smooth eyeshadows that are a dream to apply and blend. They’re crazy pigmented for a drugstore product, and apply vividly even without primer, never crumbling or kicking up dust.
The top two shades are a little more frosty than the bottom two, and the chocolate brown (third swatch) is just divine — it’s rich and dense, even more-so over primer, with a beautiful, uninterrupted finish. The darkest brown is a little drier than the rest, but makes up for it with a smattering of silver shimmer that twinkles as you move about.
Annabelle Eyeshadow Quad in Chai Chai Chai, swatched dry on unprimed skin
What impressed me most about these shades, I think, was how wearable they are. Yes, the overall feeling of the palette is very bronze, but it’s not so warm that I couldn’t wear it around if I wanted to. (If you love metals or warm colours but can’t always pull them off, this might be a good one to try.)
And, if warm bronze isn’t your thing, these quads come in cooler options, too — stormy grey-blues, cooler taupes, mossy browns, and purple-pinks.
Annabelle Chai Chai Chai swatches
The packaging: Where this product flounders (just a little!!) is its packaging. Chai Chai Chai comes with two applicators that are really just too small to be of any use — “crapplicators,” if you will.
It’s also a really hard palette to get open, which is both a positive and a negative: on one hand, it can be frustrating, but on the other, I feel 100% confident just throwing this into my bag, because it’s definitely not going to spring open if jostled the wrong way.
Annabelle consistently proves itself to be one of the best budget brands out there, and this quad is no exception. While the particular colour palette of Chai Chai Chai was a little too warm for my preferences (though it worked ok with my colouring), I would absolutely recommend these quads if you’re looking for a great drugstore palette for day-to-day use or travel!
Availability: $10.95 CAD at Annabelle.ca & in most drugstores across Canada.
It’s taken me longer than I would have liked, but at long last: here is a new, updated version of theNotice’s creme-based silicone-free foundation list. It includes every creme silicone-free foundation I could find (both solids and balms), but if you know of one I’ve missed, please leave me a comment — I’m sure I’ve missed many from international and indie brands! (Note: due to the volume of what’s available and the nature of shopping online, please only suggest indie brands/Etsy sellers if you can personally vouch for the brand/product!)
At the moment, I’m also working on updating my list of ‘cone-free liquid and powder foundations, and will tackle moisturizers once that’s done. (These lists take a lot of time to compile, so my apologies that they’re not updated more frequently. You may only see 20 products on a list, but I’ve likely gone through the ingredients of 5x that number to find the ‘cone-free ones!)
If you have any suggestions or requests for future lists, again, please let me know! (For instance: do you like this format? Is there another product category that you’d really like to see a list for?)
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Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick ($44) { Sephora | Nordstrom } |
 Bobbi Brown Extra SPF 25 Tinted Moisturizing Balm ($54){ Sephora | Nordstrom } |
 Bobbi Brown Face Touch Up Stick ($28) { Sephora | Nordstrom } |
 Cover FX Total Cover Cream Foundation ($42) { Sephora } |
 Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Sponge-On Cream Makeup ($36.50) { Dillard’s | Macy’s } |
 Iman Second to None Cream to Powder Foundation ($16) { Drugstore.com | Walgreen’s } |
 Kevyn Aucoin The Sensual Skin Enhancer Makeup ($48) { Nordstrom } |
 Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Crème Compact Broad Spectrum SPF 20 Sunscreen ($45) { Sephora | Nordstrom | Space NK } |
 Mally Ultimate Performance Professional Foundation ($40) { Ulta | Beauty.com } |
 Make Up For Ever Pan Stick Foundation ($32) { AlconeCo } |
 Max Factor Pan Stik Foundation ($9.93) { Amazon | Boots | Drugstore.com } |
 Nvey Eco Cream Deluxe Flawless Finish Foundation ($30) { Ulta } |
 theBalm timeBalm Foundation ($28) { Nordstrom | Beauty.com } |
Plus: here’s a list of theatre foundations that meet the bill. I’m a huge advocate for theatre makeup if you can sample it before buying (the shade selection is typically enormous, with plenty of colour adjusters), and many of their creme products are formulated without silicones. The price is always great, too — you use so little with all of these, and they’re usually less than $15 each!
To note, I haven’t shopped at any of these sites, but have heard great things about Beautylish, Camera Ready Cosmetics (CRC), and Alcone.
Looking for a great physical sunscreen? This week at theNotice, Rae reviews & compares a few all-natural options for you. Don’t miss it!
Musicalhouses takes an in depth look at the controversy and science, and tackles whether parabens are safe, and their role in cosmetics!
Get Feline Fierce with Phyrra’s Too Faced Cat Eyes Tutorial!
FabDiva20 has B2M’d for four amazing MAC lipsticks from the permanent range and she is loving them that she cannot just choose one favorite out of the four! Check out her review & swatches!
Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed dresses up her nails with textured top coats from Maybelline and Sally Hansen – come admire her adorned nails!
What if I told you that you can melt away make-up and impurities in less than 3 minutes?!? Jenn from SpicedBeauty has the scoop.
With a formula containing over 50% sweet almond oil (and following up with fractionated coconut oil), the makeup of L’Occitane’s Amande Supple Skin Oil is pretty great. It hydrates well despite its lightweight texture, and comes in a gorgeous glass bottle with a spray dispenser — and while I don’t think it’ll make well-hydrated skin any more firm or supple (as it claims), any good body oil will do that for chronically dry skin!
However, despite the fact that I love the feel and presentation of this oil, I personally hate the scent. It opens with just a second of beautiful, nutty synthetic almond, but turns into something sharp and cloying once misted and rubbed in; something that sits in the back of my throat with painful honey-sweetness.
But, to each her own: I adore the idea of honey scents, but for some reason, I just can’t stand them in practice. If you love scents like Lise Watier’s Something Sweet or Marc Jacobs Dot (or anything with honey in it!), I bet the L’Occitane Amande body oil would work beautifully for you.
L’Occitane Supple Skin Oil ingredients:
Sweet Almond Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Fragrance, Oleyl Alcohol, Camelina Sativa Seed Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Bergamot Fruit Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Dioleyl Tocopheryl Methylsilanol, Limonene, Coumarin, Linalool, Citral.
Of these three oils, Clarins’ is the only one I haven’t tested — and for good reason. This beautiful bi-phase oil (the shimmer separates out) has wonderful, chunky-chic packaging and a captivating amount of warm shimmer particles, but it’s actually a silicone-oil: the formula contains plenty of glittering minerals, but its liquid phase is based mainly on coconut oil fractions and cyclopentasiloxane.
For those of you who missed out last year, this is an exact copy of Clarins’ Splendours Body Oil, from the packaging to the ingredients; the packaging simply lost the “Splendours” label and picked up a “face & body” descriptor.
Clarins Shimmer Oil ingredients:
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cyclopentasiloxane, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Isononyl Isononate, Hazel Seed Oil, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Bisabolol, Fragrance, Silica, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Tin Oxide, Sunflower Seed Oil, Coumarin, Linalool, Farnesol.
I seriously need to try out some new Osmia oils, because Sunset still has me smitten — months after the first time I tried it. Their oils are all-natural and beautifully scented, with a luxurious fractionated coconut oil & jojoba base that delivers wonderful, completely lightweight moisture.
I’ve tested quite a few body oils since falling in love with this one, but Sunset is still my favourite by far. The delicate, feminine scent lasts all day long (it’s a super-sexy rendition of vanilla; slightly spicy and just barely floral), and though the price tag is a little high, it’s an easy compromise to make — it may be sold as a body oil, but it can definitely double as your perfume.
Osmia Organics Body Oil ingredients:
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Fractionated Coconut Oil), Jojoba Oil, Kukui Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil, Cannabis Sativa Hemp Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Borage Seed Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Sea Buckthorn Berry Co2 Extract, Rosemary Co2 Extract, And A Proprietary Blend Of Organic And Wild-Harvested Essential Oils And Co2 Extracts.
When it comes to all-natural sunscreens, the name Marie Veronique pops up a lot — and so it should. There aren’t a ton of silicone-free, chemical-free sunscreens out there (not ones without a heavy texture and a white cast, at least), and the Marie Veronique ones are some of the best of the bunch.
That said, it’s hard to pick out what sunscreen to try out of all of the varieties available — so think of this as your guide to Marie Veronique sunscreens, from which shade to pick to what the formulas play best with.
Note: the products photographed in this review are sample sizes!
Marie Veronique Face Oil
I didn’t get a chance to compare the brand’s Pacific Face Oil with their regular option (the Pacific version broke in transit), but this is what I can tell you: what I did get to try of the Pacific Face Oil ($110/1 oz) felt extremely comforting, and had an herbal scent that reminded me very strongly of shu uemura’s Premium A/O and Ultime8 oils.
The Face Oil ($80/1 oz) felt less intensive, but has a lighter scent to it — it still made my dry skin feel softer immediately, and it layered well with the brand’s sunscreens. The product itself is very orange (due to a high amount of rosehip oil in the formula), but doesn’t tint the skin once it’s worked in!
Both of these products are quite pricy, but it’s important to note that they’ve been carefully formulated by the brand’s chemists — unlike what I’ve seen from other brands (ahem: Josie Maran, Tarte, & co.), who simply offer marked-up pure oils in pretty jars.
Marie Veronique Everyday Sheer Coverage SPF 20 – Light, Medium Tints
As the brand’s more expensive sunscreen (it’s formulated to be anti-ageing, like the rest of the Pacific range), I was expecting great things from their Everyday Sheer Coverage — but, weirdly enough, I was a little disappointed in it.
I applied this one overtop the brand’s Face Oil, as suggested, and it felt okay on its own — not too heavy or sticky. But here’s the catch: this one doesn’t play very well under makeup. The Light shade was tinted enough to darken and warm up my skintone just a hair, but it’s sort of “film forming” — the first time I tried to buff in a cream foundation overtop of it, the whole layer slid in the direction of my brush strokes.
Marie Veronique Everyday Sheer Coverage SPF 20 – Light, Medium Tints swatched
Everyday Sheer Coverage swatched against: left – MAC NC15 (top), NW20 (bottom); right – NC30 (top) and NC25 (bottom)
When I used it after that, I applied a little less and layered it overtop a very thin layer of German Nivea. It went from thereon in, drying satin-matte as promised and staying in place with product overtop, but my makeup looked slightly more obvious than usual. All in all, I would recommend this for normal to oily skin types, or those who wear liquid (but not creme) foundation.
The Marie Veronique Everyday Sheer coverage SPF 20 is formulated with 16.6% non-nano zinc oxide. See the full ingredients list if you
Green & White Tea, 16.6% Non-Nano Zinc Oxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Broccoli Seed Oil, Cherry Kernel Seed Oil, Emu Oil, Pomegranate Seed Oil, Red Raspberry Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Yangu Oil, Cosmocil CQ (paraben-free anti-microbial), Xanthan Gum, N-Acetyl Glucosamine, Lecithin, Potassium Sorbate, Pearl Powder, Rosemary Oleoresin, Beta Glucan, Coffee Fruit Extract, Silk Powder, Rose Essential Oil, Neroli Essential Oil, Helichrysum Essential Oil, Cistus Essential Oil, Iron Oxides.
Marie Veronique Organics Everyday Coverage SPF 30 – Extra Light, Light, and Medium Tints
